Every day at work, Lamont Harris gets a firsthand look at why Howard County's trash-disposal problems are rapidly growing bigger and more expensive."If you go to one home, you might have two cans. If you go to the next house, they might have six cans," says Mr. Harris, who picks up trash for Waste Management Inc., one of the county's five private trash haulers. "If you pop the top off, you might see topsoil, grass and dirt. That weighs 80 pounds!"In officials' search for ways to alter such behavior, Howard has become the first county in the state to consider moving to a system of fees, perhaps $2 or $3 for each bag or can of trash, if approved by County Executive Charles I. Ecker and the County Council.

More than 50 people showed up at Hammond High School in Columbia last night to urge Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker to rethink a proposal to charge residents a minimum fee of $100 a year for trash removal.The cost of trash removal is included in the property tax. But the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board recommended Sept. 1 that the county charge residents an annual fee of $100 for picking up one 30-gallon bag of trash each week and $1.50 for each additional 30-gallon bag.If the board's recommendation is accepted, Howard would become the first county in the state to charge residents on the basis of how much they throw away.

Counties plan to join forces on trash disposalCOLUMBIA -- Howard County officials and their Baltimore-area counterparts are looking at ways to collaborate on the disposal, burning and marketing of trash, an idea that stalled last year when Howard and three other counties made a similar effort."

A Howard County advisory panel has recommended that county government begin charging residents for each bag of trash collected -- setting the stage for Howard to become the first county in the state to follow the latest national trend in reducing waste.The county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board recommended on Friday that the county charge each household $100 a year, beginning next July, for once-a-week trash pickup.As of January 1997, the group recommended, the county should pick up only a single 30-gallon bag per week for the $100 annual fee and begin charging $1.50 for each additional 30-gallon bag or 75 cents for each 13-gallon "kitchen can" bag.Howard residents who don't get curbside trash pickup, such as apartment dwellers, would be charged a flat annual fee of $85 for any amount of trash.

Howard County residents will finally get a chance to talk trash in September.The cost of collecting 6,000 tons of curbside trash from county residences each month is rising, said members of the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board, who are seeking ways to pay for increase.By mid-August, they will give County Executive Charles I. Ecker a plan for ways to cover the higher costs, said John P. Hollerbach, the board's chairman. At least one public hearing will be held for residents in September before Mr. Ecker makes a recommendation to the County Council.

County officials yesterday detailed Carroll's trash disposal efforts during the second meeting of a recently appointed waste-to-energy committee.The county last year generated some 122,000 tons of trash and recycled about 10 percent of that volume, Keith Kirschnick, public works director, told the committee.The committee is studying incineration as a disposal method to augment recycling and landfilling.About 28 percent of the county's trash was dumped at the Hoods Mill landfill in South Carroll and 72 percent was buried at the Northern landfill off Route 140, just east of Westminster, Mr. Kirschnick said.

More than 50 people showed up at Hammond High School in Columbia last night to urge Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker to rethink a proposal to charge residents a minimum fee of $100 a year for trash removal.The cost of trash removal is included in the property tax. But the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board recommended Sept. 1 that the county charge residents an annual fee of $100 for picking up one 30-gallon bag of trash each week and $1.50 for each additional 30-gallon bag.If the board's recommendation is accepted, Howard would become the first county in the state to charge residents on the basis of how much they throw away.

Plunging into the messy and risky task of trying to solve Howard County's landfill problem seems a fruitless enterprise. Not only does the county face the problem of cleaning up two landfills that are closed and leaking contaminants, it also must deal with similar problems at its lone operating dump at Alpha Ridge.County Executive Charles I. Ecker has offered what can be best described as a Band-Aid to patch a hemmorrhaging wound. He has proposed closing Alpha Ridge in two years and sending the county's trash elsewhere until a regional solution is worked out on solid waste disposal.

Howard County has exceeded expectations in meeting this year's state-mandated recycling goal, finding new uses for more than a quarter of the county's trash.The 1988 Maryland Recycling Act requires that counties with more than 150,000 people recycle at least 20 percent of their waste or be subject to a building moratorium.In the last half of 1993, nearly 26 percent of the county's waste was recycled, thanks in large part to an experimental trash-composting plant in Baltimore and beginning curbside collection for the last 20,000 county homes without the service, said Linda Fields, the county's recycling chief.

A Howard County trash-financing panel has recommended that the county begin charging residents for each bag of trash collected -- setting the stage for Howard to become the first county in the state to follow the latest national trend in reducing waste.In a report delivered Friday to Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker, the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board recommends that the county charge each county household $100 a year, beginning in July, for once-a-week trash pickup.

Howard County residents will finally get a chance to talk trash in September.The cost of collecting 6,000 tons of curbside trash from county residences each month is rising, said members of the county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board, who are seeking ways to pay for increase.By mid-August, they will give County Executive Charles I. Ecker a plan for ways to cover the higher costs, said John P. Hollerbach, the board's chairman. At least one public hearing will be held for residents in September before Mr. Ecker makes a recommendation to the County Council.

Anne Arundel County's garbage has become a hot commodity.Privately held "mega-landfills" in neighboring states are competing for the county's refuse, and that might prompt officials to lower the fees charged to commercial haulers who dump at the publicly owned Millersville landfill, County Executive John G. Gary said.Meanwhile, the county has been flooded with unsolicited offers by national companies that believe they can get rid of residents' trash more cheaply than the local government can, the executive said Thursday in an interview with The Sun.The offers range from taking over the Millersville landfill to providing garbage-eating technology known as a "trash muncher," Mr. Gary said.

Every day at work, Lamont Harris gets a firsthand look at why Howard County's trash-disposal problems are rapidly growing bigger and more expensive."If you go to one home, you might have two cans. If you go to the next house, they might have six cans," says Mr. Harris, who picks up trash for Waste Management Inc., one of the county's five private trash haulers. "If you pop the top off, you might see topsoil, grass and dirt. That weighs 80 pounds!"In officials' search for ways to alter such behavior, Howard has become the first county in the state to consider moving to a system of fees, perhaps $2 or $3 for each bag or can of trash, if approved by County Executive Charles I. Ecker and the County Council.

A Howard County advisory panel has recommended that county government begin charging residents for each bag of trash collected -- setting the stage for Howard to become the first county in the state to follow the latest national trend in reducing waste.The county's Solid Waste Funding Assessment Board recommended on Friday that the county charge each household $100 a year, beginning next July, for once-a-week trash pickup.As of January 1997, the group recommended, the county should pick up only a single 30-gallon bag per week for the $100 annual fee and begin charging $1.50 for each additional 30-gallon bag or 75 cents for each 13-gallon "kitchen can" bag.Howard residents who don't get curbside trash pickup, such as apartment dwellers, would be charged a flat annual fee of $85 for any amount of trash.

Howard County has exceeded expectations in meeting this year's state-mandated recycling goal, finding new uses for more than a quarter of the county's trash.The 1988 Maryland Recycling Act requires that counties with more than 150,000 people recycle at least 20 percent of their waste or be subject to a building moratorium.In the last half of 1993, nearly 26 percent of the county's waste was recycled, thanks in large part to an experimental trash-composting plant in Baltimore and beginning curbside collection for the last 20,000 county homes without the service, said Linda Fields, the county's recycling chief.

Plunging into the messy and risky task of trying to solve Howard County's landfill problem seems a fruitless enterprise. Not only does the county face the problem of cleaning up two landfills that are closed and leaking contaminants, it also must deal with similar problems at its lone operating dump at Alpha Ridge.County Executive Charles I. Ecker has offered what can be best described as a Band-Aid to patch a hemmorrhaging wound. He has proposed closing Alpha Ridge in two years and sending the county's trash elsewhere until a regional solution is worked out on solid waste disposal.